It was a 13 on 13 game with three 20 minute periods. The pace was really quite intense and challenging and we were able to get on top in the midfield from the start.

We were really pleased with the overall performance as a team. Defensively, it was a really important opportunity, in a reduced numbers game, to be able to hold the opposition up. Reduced numbers games can see a really quick transition type of football, so for our ability to hold them up and maintain possession and stop the opposition from scoring freely was a positive.

Lloyd Meek
Lloyd had a dominant performance in the ruck against Sam De Koning, a first year player but at the same time a talented young player. Lloyd really controlled the stoppages and was able to get forward and create a couple of goal scoring opportunities as well as kicking a goal himself.
He’s really improved in his consistency with his ruck work and I think that his confidence has grown to the point that his follow up at ground level is a real feature of his game. 

Luke Valente
Luke was really clean and showed his class with the ball in hand and was able to evade the tackle and use the ball well by hand and foot. He’s improved with his bodywork at stoppages and continues to impress with his attitude and his effort. 

Tom North
Tom was particularly effective with the ball by foot and his ability to find a free target was a feature. He really competed hard along with the entire midfield group that was able to give us some ascendency out of the stoppage. 

Connor Blakely
Connor hit the game really hard, he was super aggressive at the stoppages, whether it was his tackling or his attack on the ball at ground level. He put in a strong performance and played with the kind of attitude that you love to see all of our players have.

Mitch Crowden
Mitch split his role between playing forward and the midfield and he gave us a real lift in the final period on the ball with six clearances for the term. His tackling, pressure and composure with the ball inside 50 was really positive.

Jarvis Pina and Jason Carter
We had Jarvis Pina and Jason Carter working between half back and the wing. Both of them were really lively. I think there was a bit of freedom to play up on the wing and get a bit of run outside of the cage of playing in defence. Both guys competed hard in both positions. Jason, in particular, showed some real desperation in defence to spoil and win his own footy, which was a good return to form by him.
Jarvis got himself into some goal scoring positions late in the game and continued to show his speed off half back and his ability to find a free target.

Leno Thomas
Leno was probably the standout defender of the day. He was strong and won some really important one-on-ones. There’s plenty of space in a 13 on 13 game and Leno was in a couple of scenarios where, if he didn’t win the contest, we would have had a goal scored against us. In those moments he showed a real hunger to compete.
Due to his composure of the ball in hand, he was able to find some free targets and he continues to grow in his role in defence.

Hugh Dixon
Hugh played down back. It was a part of his development and also a part of our need to look at some tall defenders with the injuries that we’ve had in that area. Hugh had some good wins, his aerial skills giving him a real advantage and he’s certainly had some good learnings from the game.

Dillon O’Reilly
Dillon played as our key back working with Hugh. Both young talls have some work to do but they showed some really positive signs. The pleasing thing for both of those guys was when they got the ball in hand they were able to find a composed possession and control the football instead of it going up and down all day.

Travis Colyer
Playing at half forward, Travis was incredibly lively and very courageous. He put his body on the line a couple of times and took some big hits. He was able to really break open the game with his speed and improve with his pressure around the forward 50.

Liam Henry
Liam played up front and had an increased volume of game time, which was pleasing to see. He presented really well to the kicker and with a lot of our guys, he had very good composure with ball in hand to find a target and maintain possession of the ball.

Cam McCarthy
Cam kicked three goals, playing a deeper forward role than he had previously. At the same time, he was able to make the most of some opportunities with our ball use and get on the end of a couple and kick those goals.